Ever After
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: What if Norman was never allowed to come home from Pineview? What if the end of Season 4 and all of Season 5 was all in his head? What if Norma didn't die and Alex never went to prison? What if Alex and Norma got their happy ending? What if they could live happily ever after? One Chapter only.


Everafter

~ Alex never felt easy when he saw his wife alone with Norman Bates.

' _Jesus. My wife_.' he thought to himself with a trace of the old bitterness he hadn't felt in a while. Not in a thousand years had he ever expected to find himself married.

Certainly not to local motel owner Norma Bates; with all the chaos that seemed to swirl around her. Like the chaos, Sheriff Alex Romero had found himself gravitating towards her. Always answering the call and putting himself between Norma Bates and whatever disaster she perceived was eminent.

At first he had thought she was a little high strung. Perhaps even bipolar. After learning some difficult truths about her son Norman, he realized Norma had been holding everything together for so long, she was finally just reaching the breaking point.

That breaking point came two years ago when she'd proposed the imposable to him. That even though they were just casual friends, not even lovers, that he should marry her so that her son Norman could use his insurance and be admitted to a private mental institution.

Alex had balked at the idea at first. He wasn't the marrying man. He didn't enjoy single life, but single life agreed with him. Its' solitary nature fit his need to be angry with the world. He'd always reassured whatever lady friend he was involved with that he'd never marry them. They shouldn't pin their hopes on him because he wasn't husband material. All Alex Romero was good for was a casual encounter. Soon forgotten and never cared for.

It was when Norma Bates had seemed so desperate for his help, not for herself, but for her son, that had made him pay attention. What was so awful that would make Norma devise such a plan?

Alex didn't have to think too hard about it. He was well aware of Norman's history. He knew better than anyone that Norma should be afraid of her son.

All it took was a short visit to the big house by the motel to see the fear in her eyes. See the look of hopelessness that was there. In that instant, he could never be sure why, he changed his mind about marriage.

Alex glanced down at the silver wedding band on his left hand. It wasn't the original ring Norma gave him for his birthday the first year they were married. He'd accidentally lost that ring and couldn't remember where.

Norma had shaken her head and teased him a little about it. The two of them making a special trip to Seattle to visit Emma and Dylan and selecting a new wedding band for him. Alex had already had a mini heart attack when he'd misplaced this ring just last week. After spending his entire life not bothering with jewelry of any kind, it was a new thing to wear the slender silver wedding band.

Still, it was the one piece of jewelry, aside from his watch, he liked wearing. People noticed it. Respected it. There was a certain privilege that a man with a wife had that Romero had never noticed. People asked how Norma was all the time when they needed to make polite conversation with him.

Alex telling them how she'd finally found a capable manager for the motel and it was running smoothly thanks to clever social media conducted by her oldest son Dylan.

No one ever asked about Norman. People either assumed he was in some out of state university, or had a falling out with his mother over her sudden marriage to the local Sheriff. They were right about the last part.

Norman hadn't taken the news of Norma marrying Alex very well at all. He'd tried to convince his mother to let him come home. Something that Doctor Edwards and Sheriff Romero had stood united against allowing him to do. Alex even threatening divorce if she tired to bring Norman back home.

Even Dylan had promised to sign papers that would force Norman to stay in Pineview against his will if needed.

Norma had been in tears when Doctor Edwards called and said Norman had attacked another patient. Like a horrible nightmare, Doctor Edwards and Sheriff Romero expedited forced admission papers for the long term care of Norman Bates.

It would be years before he would be released.

~ "Norman, you're lucky to be in a nice place like this." Norma insisted. She glanced up at her husband who was casually watching them from the waiting room, a good twenty feet away, but ready to step in if needed.

Alex always kept his distance when it came to visiting Norman. He knew the bond she had with her son. Knew that perhaps he didn't belong in their world and that his presence would only upset Norman's already fragile state.

She smoothed over Norman's rumpled hair and wished she could give him a hair cut.

"Did you like the quilt I made you for your birthday?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes, Mother." Norman responded dully.

"I saw it on your bed. It looks really nice. Saw all your drawings to." she added.

"Yes." Norman responded.

Norma let out a sigh of frustration. It was a bad day for her son. He was in one of his moods again. He was being stubborn and unruly because she'd brought Alex with her. She couldn't see Norman alone. Either Alex, Dylan or Doctor Edwards had to be with her.

Her husband, no, not her husband. **Sheriff Alex Romero** , had insisted that Norman Bates never alone with Norma Romero under any circumstances. Even now, a large male nurse was standing five feet away from them looking suspicious of what Norman might do.

It was odd how Alex could be both her husband and still be the same hard as nails Sheriff she'd first met five years ago.

"Dylan and Emma sent me some new pictures of Katie." Norma said brightly. It was a half lie. She's taken them from her son's social media account and had them printed with her phone app. Norman didn't need to know that her relationship with Dylan was still strained at times.

Norman showed sarcastic interest.

"Oh? Yes, your granddaughter." he said with a mildly insulting air.

"Norman." she sighed and rolled her eyes. Clearly he meant to hurt her feeling at being called a grandmother already.

"How does Sheriff Romero like sleeping with a grandmother?" Norman said hatefully. "I didn't realize he was into that sort of thing."

"Norman stop it." she hissed. "This isn't about me. Or Dylan. I'm trying here. I'm trying to make a good life for you."

"By staying married to him?" Norman accused hatefully. "I'd rather go back to that awful county place than have you being forced to live with him."

Norman looked close to tears and slightly sick.

"What that man… what he must make you do… it must be so awful." he said with a shaky voice.

"It's not like that." she said quickly. "Norman, it was never like that. I told you. Alex and I became good friends. We're very happy living together."

"Why are you living together?" Norman whispered scornfully. "I thought it was just for the insurance."

"That was how it started." she admitted. "It's how it started but, Norman, he cares about me."

"So what?" Norman laughed. "I was just in the way I guess? You wanted to do those… those **things** in our home… with that awful man. So you sent me away. You sent me away and he made sure I stayed away. He made sure I stayed away forever!" Norman accused savagely.

His eyes wet with tears.

"Norman." the male nurse came over to him and spoke in a calm voice.

"I'm fine." Norman spat and stood up quickly. Glaring at his mother.

Norma let out a breath, realizing she hadn't breathed the whole time her son had been accusing her of such selfishness. She stood up slowly and took a step back. Doctor Edwards last report about Norman still ringing painfully in her ears.

"I'm glad you liked the quilt." she said politely. "I'll come back next month."

She started to back away from him and could see her son was growing calmer as she receded farther away from him.  
"I'll come back next month and bring you something nice." she promised. "Cookies, or a new sketch pad."

"Divorce papers." Norman said spitefully as he nodded to Alex who had suddenly appeared behind her.

She turned and saw her husband was there. Relieved it wasn't just Alex here, but Sheriff Romero. His expression stoic and hard as ever. The perfect defense to shield her from her son.

~ "I'm afraid his delusion has gotten more complex." Doctor Edwards admitted.

Alex and Norma leafed over the intricate charcoal drawings Norman had made while in therapy sessions with him over the past month.

"He still thinks I'm dead?" Norma asked weakly.

"Yes." Edwards nodded. "And No."

Alex felt irritation rise up. He liked Doctor Edwards, thought he was very intelligent and a good fit for Norman, but he disliked riddles.

"What does that mean?" the Sheriff asked.

"In his delusion, he thinks he killed his mother for marrying you." Doctor Edwards nodded to Alex. "He came up with this whole scenario about going home and realizing that it wasn't going to work. The broken furnace in the old house?"

"Yes." Norma nodded. "It was just a story he put together. That never happened. The two of you refused to let him come home."

She glared at her husband and Alex didn't miss the slight hate that still existed two years after the fact.

"Right, only at times, Norman thinks its' real. He thinks you died and that he's alone. Only, you're not dead." Edwards said.  
"Right." Norma nodded. "I'm alive. I just visited him."

"Not exactly." Edwards said. "Its' called dissociative identity disorder. What they used to call split personalities."

Alex let out a long sigh and leaned back in the couch. He'd had enough.

"Doctor." he shook his head. "I'm not one to believe in that kind of thing." he said darkly.

"I have hours of recorded sessions in which Norman Bates becomes the "Mother" personality." Edwards said tactfully. "Your son Dylan has even told you how Norman thought he was you on a few occasions, Mrs. Romero."

Alex looked at his wife. Norma's expression was vacant. As if she were lost at sea.

"Yes." she said at last. "Um… about two months before he came here." she said with difficulty.

"How do we know this isn't some kind of game?" Alex accused. "He's an angry young man. He's been kept here against his will for the past two years. How do we know this isn't some giant hoax he's pulling to make you look like a fool?"

He'd been in law enforcement too long to buy into every theory that was this easy.

"I've studied Norman Bates now for the past two years, Sheriff." Doctor Edwards explained. "The Mother personality comes out under times of great stress and only after an alteration of medication."

Alex noticed his wife had paused over a new sketch her son drew. Clearly it was of her. Same hair, same face. Her eyes were white and colorless. She was sitting lifelessly in a chair surrounded by glowing candles.

"Norman claims that he's kept your body very well preserved." Doctor Edwards said calmly.

~ Norma didn't have time to register what that meant before her husband angrily snatched the grotesque artwork out of her hands.

"It's all very idyllic in Norman's world." Doctor Edwards went on. "He's imagined you've gone to prison, Sheriff. He visits you there and gloats over the fact you're locked away and can't see his mother."

"Stop." Alex said.

Norma felt slightly sick.

"Norman even has a lady friend whom he drew for me." Edwards went on. "She's very lovely. Blond hair, petite build. He said he gave her your old clothes and became sexually aroused when she wore them for him. 'Mother' doesn't approve of course."

"Stop!" Alex ordered when Edwards tried to show her the charcoal drawing Norman did of a young woman who looked and dressed liked her.

"Sheriff, Mrs. Romero, We have to face these issues." Doctor Edwards said defiantly. "The medication isn't going to help him forever. Certainly not in the real world once insurance is exhausted."

"Exhausted?" Norma gasped.

"I'm afraid benefits for a grown child your son's age will be stopped at the new year." Doctor Edwards explained. "Given your son's violent history with staff, his repeated escape attempts, disturbing decisions of harming others… I may not have any choice but to recommend permanent relocation to county."

~ "They were supposed to help him." Norma said spitefully. She'd been in a bad mood since they'd come home from Pineview. News that Norman wasn't getting better and that his time was limited there had been a crushing blow.

She'd put her anger into doing laundry and cleaning the small house they'd bought together last year. It had been apart of their desire to start over together. A brand-new three bedroom two bath house in a quaint little subdivision about eleven miles outside of White Pine Bay.

Norma had found a good manager to run the motel and he and his wife now lived in the grand old house that she had so longed to fix up and make beautiful again. After realizing the Motel might go under, that she had no finical back up to save her, Dylan and Alex had come to her rescue.

Dylan had brilliantly devised a social media campaign that made White Pine Bay a stop on a scavenger hunt for all the hipsters touring the area. Or, more specifically, Bates Motel became the stop. It was how Norma had found Frank Fritter and his wife Laura. Both retired and traveling in an RV. They had been in the business of hotel management for years and knew everything there was to know.

It was a natural fit to allow them to live in her old house for free along with a modest salary, in exchange for running the motel.

She still checked on it every other day. It was her property after all, but the Fritter's were pleasant people who understood the business better than she ever could. They tolerated no trouble makers and were good about turning the rooms over after 'hourly guests'.

"One thing, Mrs. Romero." Frank had said with an amused smile after about a month of his management. "It's not a big deal, but I wanted you to be made aware of it."

"What?" Norma had asked.

She hadn't officially changed her name yet, but answered to people calling her Mrs. Romero just the same.

"Well, seems someone drilled a little peephole in the wall of the sitting room here." Frank said nodding to the office area that Norma had once used. The Fritter's using it as a cozy sitting area and occasional sleeping space so they wouldn't miss any late night guests.

"What?" Norma asked.

She wrinkled her nose as Frank, polite and not one to judge, took down a large landscape picture from the wall of her old office.

Norma had no idea there was such damage to the drywall there.

"What happened?" she gasped in alarm. It looked like someone threw a sledge hammer at the wall.

"We can fix it." Frank said. "But I feel you need to know… well, see for yourself."

Frank waved a hand at the hole in her wall and Norma cautiously stepped forward. She could see darkness and a small pin prick of light.

"What… wait… what?" Norma hesitated and shook her head.

"Yeah." Frank nodded. "Someone used this as a personal peepshow. Made himself a little spy hole here so he could watch the folks who pay by the hour."

Norma knew what Frank meant by the "folks who pay by the hour". He asked her if she knew what he meant anyway.

"When did this happen?" she asked. Her heart racing. Dylan certainly wouldn't have done this. Emma wouldn't either. Only Norman would have the perversion to spy on guests when they thought they were alone. During their most intimate moments.

"Don't know. Took down the painting to hang up pictures of the grandkids and found it. It's a small hole on the other side, Mrs. Romero. I doubt any of the guests ever saw it. I'll patch it up right away. No worries." Frank assured her.

Norma had nodded and said nothing. How many guests had Norman been spying on and for how long?

Now, life at the motel with Norman seemed like a bad dream. A dream where her entire world was out of control and she had been powerless to stop it.

When she'd given over control of the motel to Frank and his wife, she'd felt relief instead of loss. The house had given her too much anxiety. Too many bad memories that couldn't be undone. Things that couldn't be fixed. She and Alex had moved into his minimalist bachelor home for a short while before buying this house.

Norma insisted on new everything from furniture to bedsheets, and Alex obliging as long as it kept his wife happy. Before she knew it, she found herself in a life she would have hardly recognized two years ago.

Alex had run, unopposed for Sheriff and won with a record turnout of support. There was a market for something called artisan pot now that was perfectly legal, Alex said, because it was used for medical purposes.

So somehow the pot business remained with all the burnouts and the hippies, but it was different and not so dangerous. Even Gunner had come back into town to work. Norma seeing him at the grocery store buying brownie mix and thinking it was nice that a young man was good a baking.

The Motel was actually making Norma a small income for herself but she wanted to do something with her free time. It felt wrong that Alex worked full time, was always busy and she wasn't occupied.

"I'm not just your trophy wife." she had told him one morning. "I should find something to do."

Alex had thought the 'Trophy Wife' comment was very amusing.

"I won a hell of a contest." he said while getting dressed.

After looking for a long time, there want much in White Pine Bay that suited her, Norma found a job teaching. She never expected to become a teacher, but when a position for home economics at the local middle school opened up, Norma applied.

The principal was happy to hire a woman who was young enough to keep up with the kids and who didn't have endless responsibilities at home. Norma Romero had no children at home anymore. The subject of her and Alex having babies of their own had never even come up.

It had seemed they were both content to be together alone.

She'd been nervous to teach a gaggle of hopeless pre-teen girls, but found she was a natural at it. Many of the girls taking to Norma as a mother figure that they probably lacked at home. Some of them even staying after school to hang out in her classroom to practice on the sewing machines or to do some other little chore.

All the while asking Norma's advice about boys and school and life in general. Norma liking the idea that she was listened to and appreciated by these neglected little girls who just needed a role model.

"I'm glad you like it." Alex said with a little smile when Norma had described her first term as the new home economics teacher.

"I thought it would be a lot harder, but it's nice." Norma admitted. "It reminds me of when I was in school and I learned to make my own clothes."

She had kicked off her shoes and snuggled next to her husband on the couch. The two of them enjoying down time after a long, but uneventful day.

"That's good." Alex said kissing her forehead.

"I'm still worried about Norman though." she admitted.

"I know." he said. "I think I found a way for him to stay."

He looked up at him in surprise.

"Really?" she asked. "How?"

"Well, it's going to cost us a lot more in premiums each month, but I've upped our insurance plan. I was able to do it since I won the election with such a high voter turn out and had good approval ratings." he explained. "Norman can stay in Pineview. He won't have to go to county and he can keep seeing Doctor Edwards."

"Alex." Norma breathed. She wasn't sure what to say.

"If that's what you want." Alex said.

"I still want him to come home." Norma said remorsefully.  
"I know." Alex nodded. "I know you've prepared a room for him here. I know that you've been wanting him to come and live with us…"

He let out a sigh.  
"He's never getting out of that place is he?" Norma admitted weakly.

"He tried to kill you." Alex whispered. "That night I took him to Pineview? The night before we got married? I saw the handgun, Norma. I saw you take it from him and hide it before I came down the basement stairs. I know you did it to protect him, but he was going to kill you. He still fantasies about killing you."

Norma felt a chill run over her body. Her head was resting on Alex's chest and she could feel the steady rhythm of his heart beat.

"I can't let him hurt my wife." Alex admitted simply. "You are the only happiness I have in this world."

"I used to think Norman was the only happiness I would ever have in this world." Norma whispered softly.

She raised her head up and looked at her husband mournfully.

"Thank you." she said sincerely. "Thank you for everything. For being so strong when I needed it the most."

Alex smiled that gentle smile of his. A smile he only gave her after they were together as man and wife.

"You're welcome." he said. "It might not be forever."

"It will be though." Norma told him. "We both know it."

"Maybe." Alex nodded.

Norma relaxed in his arms again and rested her head on his chest. Her gaze falling on their hands lacing together.

"Alex?" she asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Yeah?"

"What happened to your wedding ring?"


End file.
